SPI and the ORC (Optoelectronics Research Centre)
SPI is continually expanding a comprehensive technology patent portfolio which it acquired from the world-renowned ORC at the University of Southampton. The ORC continues to form a key part of SPI's future by delivering advanced technology and know-how to the company enabling us to create new generations of products and extend our technical leadership in optical components and subsystems.
Professor David Payne, FRS, CBE, head of the ORC, is the inventor of the erbium doped fiber laser. Professor Payne led the team that invented the optical amplifier in 1986, the enabling technology behind DWDM and was jointly awarded the Benjamin Franklin Medal for developing the erbium-doped fiber amplifier in 1998. Professor Payne has also recently been awarded the Kelvin Medal - one of science's most prestigious honours.
Technical papers